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Public comment deadline for a proposed Air Quality Standard permit for a proposed rock crushing plant south of Marble Falls has been extended by three weeks until Oct. 31, state Sen. Dawn Buckingham, R-Lakeway, said Friday.

“To my constituents in Senate District 24 I hear you,” Buckingham said. “Many of you in the Marble Falls and surrounding areas have voiced your concerns and frustrations about a proposed rock crushing permit request and an inability, in some cases, to get your questions answered. That's why I reached out to the regulatory agency involved on your behalf demanding more transparency.

Burnet County commissioners voted unanimously to accept $1.82 million from the Capital Area Council of Governments to upgrade the CAPCOG Western Counties Radio Interoperable Communications System used by Burnet, Blanco and Llano counties.

Also in their Tuesday, Sept. 26 meeting, commissioners also unanimously approved a contract with Motorola for upgrades to the 11 towers in the Western Counties system.

A crew from Holt Engineering takes a geo-tech core sample in Granite Shoals, where voters will go to the polls Nov. 7 to reaffirm $3 million in bonds to repair the city's three main thoroughfares. A Holt specialty providing construction considerations for large arterial roadways, highways, local subdivision streets and airport taxi-ways. They were sampling last week along Phillips Ranch Road, Prairie Creek Road and Valley View Lane.

By Glynis Crawford Smith

The Highlander

Expressing confidence in the ability of Baylor Scott & White Hospital to assess its environmental needs, the Granite Shoals City Council added its own resolution on opposition to a new rock crushing plant in the south county.

It directs city staff to to notify the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) of the city's opposition and to add the council's voice to requests for a case hearing on the plant proposed near the intersection of Texas 71 and US 281.

A unanimous vote on two annexation ordinances added the subdivisions of Beaver Island (16.27 acres) and Web Isle (6.5 acres) to the city.

A vote on annexation of agricultural property owned by members of the Mezger family, with whom the city hopes to establish development agreements, has been continued to the Oct. 24 council meeting.

City Secretary Elaine Simpson had two important deadlines to share with the council and citizens.

Protestors voice opposition to a proposed rock crushing facility off Burnet County Road 304 near new subdivisions and Baylor Scott & White Hospital on Texas 71 in Marble Falls.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Chanting slogans and waiving signs, more than 100 people picketed on Saturday and Sunday across the highway from the site of a proposed rock crushing plant south of Marble Falls off US 281 at County Road 403.

After nearly a week of more or less steady rain, Llano County has lifted its burn ban. The ban was imposed at the Sept. 25 meeting of the Commissioners Court, with the thought that County Judge Mary Cunningham could lift the ban before the next court meeting if conditions warrant.

That happened today, Friday, Sept. 20.

The Texas Forest Service shows Llano County averaged 430 on the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) on Thursday, Sept. 28. that number is on the low end of the danger area for wildfires. The KBDI is widely used as an index of wildfire vulnerability.

An exhibit of sports and school memorabilia is being featured in the Madolyn Frasier Room of the Falls on the Colorado Museum to coincide with the Marble Falls Homecoming and Ex-Students Association Reunion next week.

This week is Marble Falls High School Homecoming week and the Marble Falls Ex-Students Association All School Reunion is set for Saturday, Sept. 30.

The Falls on the Colorado Museum (FOCM), located in the Old Granite School in Marble Falls, has special exhibits in place in the Madolyn Frasier Room to remind former students of their days at Marble Falls High School.

“Museum volunteers have scoured museum archives for old pictures to display,” said museum board chair Darlene Oostermeyer. “In addition, former athletes and coaches have responded to our requests to display their personal sports memorabilia.”

Oostermeyer said that additional items for the Marble Falls Sports Exhibit arrive every week at the museum. The Sports Exhibit will be on display until the end of October.

The Meadowlakes City Council on Tuesday, Sept. 19, adopted a tax rate and budget and tackled a trash tote problem that challenges the pristine curbside appearance of the city.

Unanimous approval was given for the previously proposed tax rate of $0.315 (or 3.15 cents) per $100 property value. It is comprised of $0.1512 per $100 for the interest and sinking fund (I&S) and $0.1638 for maintenance and operation (M&O).

It will support a budget for the Fiscal Year 2017-2018 of $3,920,055 in expenses in the general, utility and recreation funds and debt service.

Burnet County still is not in the target area for the heaviest rains over the next seven days, but with a mid-day downpour, the Highland Lakes clearly are heir to those "locally heavy rains" predicted this morning, Sept. 16.
The National Weather Service says areas of localized heavy rainfall leading to flash and river flooding will be possible through Thursday afternoon with the highest likelihood near the Rio Grande Plains into the southern Edwards Plateau, along and west of US 83.

It must be stressed, says the NWS, that this will be a multi-round event and any time-frame through Thursday could have a local flash flooding risk due to repeating heavy rain cells.

Area of Concern:

Rio Grande Plains into the Southern Edwards Plateau and possibly into portions of the western Hill County. See Additional Rainfall Graphic below for more details.

Could Conrad L. Fuchs (1834-1898) be looking from his 19th Century photographic portrait to a 21st Century future when the home he built for his familiy would become the historic centerpiece of Burnet County's youngest city? The City of Horseshoe Bay Fuchs House Advisory Committee will hold a town hall meeting Thursday, Oct. 5, to share information and hear ideas about restoration of the building, now city property.

By Lew K. Cohn

Managing Editor

The Highlander

Sitting on a high bluff, overlooking Lake LBJ and the Colorado River in the distance, the Conrad Fuchs House (pronounced Fox) is the oldest structure in Horseshoe Bay. Built of local field stone, this pioneer-style German home served not only as the family's homestead, but also as post office and schoolhouse for a burgeoning community of German settlers in the south end of Burnet County.